DENNIS BROWN interviews with Roger Steffens

excerpts from L.A. interview 22 Oct 80

DENNIS BROWN: I used to work with a band called the Falcons...At
the time, we used to have a girl called Cynthia Richards, and you had Noel
Brown, and there was another brother called Scotty who was a DJ at the time
[on "Draw Your Brakes"]...We used to allbe in the Falcons.

I was born [1 Feb 1957] in Kingston right at the corner of Orange Street
and

North Street,you have a big tenement yard, that was where I grew up,
really...Slim Smith and theTechniques used to come in my yard and rehearse...I
didn't record as the Falcons. You see, each of us recorded separately. Like
Noel Brown and Scotty, they recorded as theChosen Few, and I recorded as
Dennis Brown then...Well, the first record was a song called "Love
Grows" which wasn't relased until after the second record I did for
Coxson,which was "No Man Is An Island"....it was the second song
made, but the first to release.and since then we just kept making records
and doing backup harmonies on various songs.

Like we worked with Alton Ellis, Larry marshall, we did harmony and songs
with Alton Ellis like "Sunday Coming" and "Your Heart Will
Pay."

ROGER STEFFENS: What was it like to record in the Coxson Studios
in the early days? You were very young when you first went in. Were you
really nervous, or did you have a lot of confidence?

DB: I had a lot of confidence for the main reason that I was established
as a "boy wonder" then, at that time, and like I used to have
a lot of people who loved to hear me sing, like the engineer, and meself
and the musicians would get on well. Not only with the musicians, but with
other artists like Ken Boothe and Delroy Wilson, and all the others, like
groove! You know, we had that groove; I didn't feel no way. You just went
right in and just recorded songs and listened them, and if there were any
mistakes, then we would correct them and just went on...one take or two
take.

Usually, first I would run down the song then I would just take one take,
and after that I wouldn't need another one. I wasn't thinking of competing
with any artists as such, I was more thinking of being among them, and sharing
thoughts with them; like sharing views, ideas, etc. I wasn't like competing
with Tom, Dick or Harry. To be with them was so much that - you find that
most artists who come in the business and try to complete against other
artists never last long because they exalt themselves too much; because
when one thinks that their feet are getting too big for their shoes, you
find that 90% of the people don't really dig that artist because he's tryingto
hang his hat where he can't reach it. It's like belittling others.

RS: How did you get mixed up with Byron Lee? Did he discover you?

DB: Actually, I was working with Byron for around a year or two, and
Ken Lazarus was like the musical director of the band at that time...It
wasn't until 1968 that I played with

Byron, around the first time Johnny Nash came to Jamaica. Like when Miriam
Makeba and Adam Wade were there, they played in Arena, and I sang with Byron
and the band, coming onto Christmas time and thing. Every year West Kingston
used to have some charity balls at the Arena.

RS: Did anybody make money out of music in those days, except the producers?

DB: Only the producers.

LARRY MACDONALD: Or someone who walked with his machete to collect hisportion.

KEN LAZARUS: You know I can't name you an artist that wasn't exploited.

**************************************************

Excerpts from interview for "L.A. Reggae" cable tv show with
Roger Steffens

L.A. 11 Nov 82

The background to this rather rambling interview is amusing. On each
of the two daysleading to this program, I received phone calls from Jamaica
from Dennis's long-timeproducer Joe Gibbs. He told me that Dennis was working
in L.A. and had specificallyrequested to talk with me, so that he could
dispel the rumors. "Exactly what rumors arethey?" I asked. "That
he is gay, and that he has only one lung. So make sure you ask himabout
those things, okay?"

When I did bring these topics up, rather gingerly, there was an evident
millisecond ofsurprise that registered on his open face, masked quickly
by his inherent professionalism.After the cameras were turned off, though,
he asked me why I had brought up suchcontroversial subjects, in what had
otherwise been an affable and loose conversation.

"Gosh," I stammered, "I thought you WANTED to speak about
those things, that that wasthe purpose of this whole interview." "What?,"
he shot back, "Where would you get anidea like that?" Perplexed
now I told him that "Joe Gibbs called me and said he was callingon
your behalf, because you wanted to dispel certain behind-the-scenes whisperings
aboutyou." The light dawned in Dennis's deep eyes as he realized the
elaborate trick Gibbs was playing on him. Over the years, whenever we would
meet somewhere, we always laughed about the incident.

The interview was conducted in the Sunset Marquis in Hollywood, just
off Sunset Strip.He had a smallish room which, along with the gaggle of
young female admirers hanging out there, and our cumbersome video-recording
equipment, made for a most cramped experience. In fact, I sat on the side
of the bed with him as we spoke. Perhaps the most memorable personal moment
came when he reminisced about some of the earliest songs he heard back in
the '50s, and he and I actually ended up singing "Misty" together.

(Listening back, I find it's one of my more shameless moments, although
much laughter ensued at the time.)

So - here are some of the more useful excerpts from a very casual conversation
with the Crown Prince of Reggae, one chilly fall evening inna Hell A.

ROGER STEFFENS: A lot of people contend that Rasta and reggae
have nothing to do with each other. Is that true?

DENNIS BROWN: No.

RS: Why not?

DB: Because, you see, through Rasta a certain amount of inspiration comes
out in the music, and with that, that helps to elevate the music, take the
music to another level, another dimension, and that is what soothes people's
souls, their mind, the body and soul. So that is not true what they say.
They're crazy...But I am not a gimmick singer.

RS: What do you listen to at home?

DB: (laughs) Almost everyting.

RS: Give me an idea of what might find its way onto your turntable on
a typical evening.

DB: Well, I might listen to some jazz, or some new wave American stuff
[like]a group called Human League, they sing a song (sings) "Don't
you want me baby, don't you wantme now, don't you want me baby, don't you
want me now..." And I might be listening to some Peabo Bryson or some
Natalie Cole or some Rose Royce, or Aretha Franklin. Andthen on a reggae
level I might be listening to some Gregory Isaacs, some Bunny Wailer.

RS: Joe called yesterday and today and he seemed very anxious for me
to talk to you and I'm wondering if there was a specific reason that he
wanted that to happen.

DB: Well, maybe it's because of the rumors they had going around, you
know, they had some rumors about Dennis Brown was in the hospital and all
that. Well, that is all bull!

RS: Why did you miss Sunsplash?

DB: Well, we had disagreements with the promoters there. The way in which
they were looking after their business - in other words, the way that they
were treating Dennis Brown as being secondary. And I thought that was an
insult. So I stayed on in England and I didn't think about Sunsplash.

RS: So you weren't dying in a hospital over there?

DB: That's all bull.

RS: Glad to know that. How many lungs do you have?

DB: Two!

RS: Are they both working?

DB: Very much so. (laughs) Very much so! Some of them people are crazy
though, you know, because like I've noticed over the years that I have been
involved in the business, whenever you find an artist reach to a level wherein
a lot of people is getting to know of him, you find they always come up
with some crazy rumors. But give praises still that they are saying rumors
that aren't so, but facts still remain - some rumors are very killing. And
I'm thankful they never did say certain rumors about me, because that woulda
been killing. Like being a homosexual, which I'm not still. (begins to laugh,
as he looks around a room packed with beautiful young women)

DB: No, that is not right (laughs) But then again, let's get serious
now. The bottom line is that Dennis Brown is alive and well, and he's got
two lungs and they're kicking and I'm still spitting out them notes.

RS: Did you ever sing in the bathroom as a kid?

DB: Oh sure, when I'm taking a bath. You always will be singing a song
or humming a line or a melody. Sometimes that is why you might even stay
in the bathroom for even half an hour, making that water running all over,
just singing.

RS: What would you sing in the bathtub when you were a kid?

DB: The songs that would be happening then at that time. Like Adam Wade
had "Judy on My Mind" and [sings the song] "What a Difference
A Day Makes." And "Misty" [sings verse]